In an interesting move, both the governorate councils of Maysan and Najaf have declared three days of mourning for the late Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a Lebanon-based Shiite cleric of Iraqi origins. Fadlallah was deeply respected among many Iraqis, not least among many Daawa members who looked to him as an alternative to other clerics that were considered more subservient to Iran. However, others were engaged in criticism to undermine his scholarly credentials, and entire websites devoted to repudiating him as a scholar exist. His enemies included not least his pro-Iranian competitor ...

BAHGDAD, Head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Amar Al-Hakim stressed on Friday that the Iraqi and Kuwaiti parties have good intentions to solve common issues and challenges in order to promote and improve bilateral relations.
Amar Al-Hakim said, during his meeting with the visiting Kuwaiti delegation, "there are good intentions for resolving the two countries' common issues and that bilateral relations should not be bound by official ties but should be further extended to social and civil communities as well as the economic and media spheres. The "best" way ...

Sayyid Ammar Al Hakim came to Bahrain on November 8 for the 1st time since assuming the leadership of ISCI, and spent three days of very public interaction with Bahrain's political and religious leadership, including the King, the Speaker of Parliament, chairpersons of the parliamentary committees, Shia religious leaders and the press. The focal point of the visit was an audience with King Hamad and Prime Minister Khalifa on November 9, which was all the more notable in that it took place as scheduled, despite the death the day before of Sheikh Mohamed bin Sultan al Khalifa, the ...